3. HesitationA Chapter by MedicalNightmareAaron has difficulty finding himself, especially as the consequences of Gelert's actions begin to cave in on him. June processes. When
the movie ended, June was immediately on her feet to switch it out for another.
The man on the couch, however, had something else eating at his mind. “Why
did you call me?” He asked finally. She
stopped where she was. “If you want to leave, leave.” “That’s
not what I said.” She
glanced at him, but pulled her eyes away quickly. Looking at him for too long
still made her queasy. “Maybe I don’t know. But who else could I talk to about
any of this? You’re the only one who’s seen all that s**t too.” He knew
she was right. She’d find herself in an asylum if she spoke anything of Gelert
or what he had done. “But are you sure you’re okay with me being here?” “No, to
be honest, I’m still not sure.” She revealed a Glock .45 pistol strapped to her
waist with a coy smile. “Just make sure you don’t change my mind. If you f**k
with me, I don’t care if you’re you, or a demon, or the goddamned pope’s cousin
" I still enjoy using this.” Aaron couldn’t help but be visibly impressed,
which seemed to satisfy her. She sat back down, giving up on the distraction of
movie musicals, and sighed. “I had to stop watching the news.” He
looked away. “Yeah.” “Everywhere
I go I learn something new about someone I watched die. That 17-year-old kid "
his mom was in the booth behind me at the coffee place yesterday. I heard her
talking before you showed up.” She swallowed. “They got the letter just after
he went missing that he’d been accepted into Princeton.” Aaron
could only have described the sensation that followed as his stomach twisting.
“Jesus.” June awoke sharply, face-down on a cold
cement floor with handcuffs pulling her arms in opposite directions, to the
sound of a door slamming. She didn’t recall many details about where they were
this time, only that it was some sort of cabin-like garage. He came in hauling
an unconscious blond young man over his shoulder, and had an all-too-familiar
rag sticking out of his pocket. “I’ve brought another friend for
you, pet.” His voice sent chills from her head to her toe. “This one is going to
be fun.” He tossed the fit-looking body off him and turned around, and June got
a better look at the face. “He’s just a f*****g kid,” she
spat, her voice hoarse from dehydration. She heard the teenager groan and saw
his eyes crack open. Her impulse was to ask if he was alright, but somehow that
seemed redundant. The boy’s eyes focused and fell on June. He tried to speak,
but with little success. “How old are you?” She asked him. He indicated
seventeen with the fingers of his bound hands, and June’s breath caught in her
throat. Gelert turned back around with
his large combat knife in hand and looked at the teenager, who was having
difficulty keeping his head lifted, like a piece of meat. “What do you think,
June?” His use of her name made her feel sick. “Where do we start this time?” “You’re a piece of s**t,” she
retaliated, her blood boiling. In less than a second he pulled
her up hard by the jaw, blocking her breathing and stretching her neck and
throat into searing pain. “You don’t get to talk to me like that, w***e.” He
let go quickly and her spine corrected itself abruptly, slamming her face onto
the floor with force. For a few seconds, everything was white and all she could
hear was a high-pitched ringing. Slowly, frantic screaming faded its way into
her hearing, and the last thing she could sense before she lost consciousness
again was something warm pooling next to her. While both of their minds
were elsewhere, there was a knock at the door. Taking a breath to steady
herself, June cautiously approached the door and looked through the hole. She
turned quickly back around to face Aaron. “Hide.” “What?” She
pulled her collar and sleeves up to hide some of the worst marks. “It’s the
police.” His
heart almost stopped and panic began to set in. “You don’t have to do this.” She
gestured sternly to the hallway. “I told you to hide. Go.” As Aaron scurried
into the first room he reached and slid behind the door, she opened the front
door and plastered on her best bullshit smile. “Good
morning, ma’am,” greeted a lone officer about her height with the voice of a
flight attendant giving emergency instructions. His eyes darted around to
different bruises on her face and neck, and he seemed to interrupt the flow of
script he had planned to ask if she was alright, however keeping the same safely
over-friendly tone. “Yep,
I’m just fine. Just had one of those good old family reunions last week, and
you know how those can escalate.” Her falsified casual and uppity tone was
well-executed, Aaron noted. Probably
noticing that none of the bruises looked fresh, the officer nodded and pulled
out a sheet of paper. “Well then, ma’am, I just need to ask if you recognize
this man, or if you’ve seen anyone like him around.” He handed her a rough
sketch of Aaron’s features, earrings and all. The eyes of the sketch were far
too close together and the drawn goatee stopped in the middle where it should
have continued along his jawline, but it was unmistakably him. “No, I
don’t recognize him.” June handed the sketch back nonchalantly. “Sorry.” “That’s
perfectly fine.” He tipped his hat. “You have a great day, and let us know if
you see or hear anything suspicious in the area, or if anyone gives you any
more trouble-“ he gestured to his own face- “like that.” She thanked him and
closed the door, letting out a large breath of relief. Aaron
emerged and repeated himself. “You didn’t have to do that.” She
scoffed. “What, like that’s the first time I’ve lied to the cops? Now, you
can’t go back to your apartment.” He
swallowed. “You’re probably right.” “And
your family, have you spoken to any of them since this happened?” He
shook his head. “I couldn’t have.” “Okay.
You need to get rid of that phone and get a new one as soon as you can. Beyond
that, I don’t really know yet.” “Christ,”
Aaron breathed through his teeth, running a hand through his dark brown hair. “My
life is pretty much over, isn’t it?” “Not
really,” she replied honestly. “You look at Cory, that’s a life that’s over.
Time and distance can fix this one. You’ve got a chance.” “I don’t
know that I deserve it,” he mumbled, looking away. She sat
down cross-legged and closed her eyes. “We can’t generalize responsibility, as
people. There’s no one explanation for what is and isn’t someone’s fault. It’s
way more complicated than that, and that’s all we can know. Possession, as I’ve
begun to see it, probably doesn’t even fall into the category of your own
actions. You were a tool. Had you been able to do anything about it, or not
been there, he would have just found another tool.” He took
a moment to process her words. “That’s your answer, then? That’s why you’re so
forgiving?” June’s
expression hardened. “Who said anything about forgiveness? He fucked with you
and he fucked with me. You, Aaron, have yet to f**k with me. I’m not so broken
that I can’t see that logically.” “You still
have the right to hate me. For f**k’s sake, you have the right to take out your
pistol and kill me right now. The families of all those people have a right to justice
and closure.” “You’d
be a scapegoat.” “Would
I?” “Jesus!”
She was almost yelling now. She turned to face him directly and looked him
firmly in the eyes, surprising him. “Get him out of your head.” Aaron felt for
the first time that she was truly looking at his face and seeing him through the
mask that Gelert had worn. “June-“ “No. He’s
in your head. Don’t give him what he wanted.” She finally had to avert her
eyes. “He got
everything he wanted,” Aaron seethed. “He took whatever he pleased.” “Then
don’t let him take anything more from you. He had your mind; don’t give it
back.” When he made no reply, she sighed and continued. “Look, I’m not saying I’m
not having any trouble with this. Looking at you still makes me sick, and I’m
still ridiculously on edge anywhere near you. But you don’t even smell like
him, or talk like him. Weird as it might sound, that small s**t really matters.
I never want to smell f*****g Camels again.” “I know
what you mean.” “The point
is take the chance. Cory’s family is never going to hear from him again. Yours
still could.” “Alright,”
he gave in and stood up. “I should go see about a new phone.” She
cocked an eyebrow. “The police are running around with a sketch of you and you
want to walk into a phone store, where the news will probably be playing
somewhere?” He sat
back down as soon as he had stood up. “S**t.” June
almost laughed. “I’m going to call Cory. He can get help. We can figure this
out.” © 2017 MedicalNightmareAuthor's Note
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4 Reviews Added on January 19, 2017 Last Updated on January 19, 2017 Tags: romance, supernatural, possession, demon, love, hurt/comfort, angst Author
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